Re: Ancestral Extropians?

Chris Fedeli (fedeli@email.msn.com)
Sat, 19 Jun 1999 10:26:40 -0400

JGanong@webtv.net (James Ganong) writes:

> OK, we've gone over Nietzche as a possible memetic
ancestor; who else
> might qualify? Who first inspired &/or
> infected you with the transhumanist/extropian meme?

Three years ago I picked up Robert Wright's "The Moral Animal" at an airport bookstore, pretty much on a whim. I was slackjawed when I finished it and realized the implications of Darwinism for all traditional philosophical ethics and epistemology. Total nihilism. I was shell shocked.

Following that I picked up Daniel Dennett's "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" and discovered meme theory, which led me to Richard Brodie's slender tome on the subject. On his web site, Brodie listed James Halperin's "The First Immortal" as a must read. Halperin's polemical novel sold me on transhumanism, eventually leading me to Drexler, Ettinger, and all other things good and holy.

Chris Fedeli